Plans to shut Colonia Road would kill Oxnard businesses, owners say

Juan Carlo / Star staff 02/22/10 in Oxnard: The City of Oxnard plans to close Colonia Road at Oxnard Blvd where a couple of business stand. The city is planning to close off at least two streets in the area and put up a fence with a couple of trees.

Juan Carlo / Star staff 02/22/10 in Oxnard: Eddie Garcia, owner of Nash Radiator in Oxnard is concern about the city closing Colonia Road at Oxnard Blvd where his business stands. The city is planning to close off at least two streets in the area.

Juan Carlo / Star staff 02/22/10 in Oxnard: Eddie Garcia, owner of Nash Radiator in Oxnard is concern about the city closing Colonia Road at Oxnard Blvd where his business stands. The city is planning to close off at least two streets in the area.

Salvador Hurtado gets a radiator from Eddie Garcia, owner of Nash Radiator in Oxnard. Garcia is concern about the city closing Colonia Road at Oxnard Blvd where his business stands. The city is planning to close off at least two streets in the area.

Juan Carlo / Star staff

Eddie Garcia has been working out of a garage on Colonia Road next to the railroad tracks in Oxnard since 1975.

It’s one of the first businesses people coming into the La Colonia neighborhood see when they turn off Oxnard Boulevard. It’s been a fixture there for so long that Garcia — who eight years ago bought Nash’s Radiator from his father-in-law — gets repeat business from the sons and grandsons of customers.

“People come here from Ojai, Santa Paula, Fillmore,” Garcia said after fixing a radiator Monday with sole employee Mike Gutierrez. “This morning we had a guy from Moorpark.”

But after hearing about what he calls a “diabolical plan” by Oxnard city traffic engineers to possibly close off Colonia Road, Garcia is wondering about his future.

“That would just kill us,” he said. “If people can’t get into the place, they’ll stop coming. It’s a simple as that.”

The plan to close access to Colonia Road from Oxnard Boulevard is part of a broad $20 million railway crossing improvement project being considered by the city. Called the Boulevard Rail Improvements and Transportation Enhancements, or BRITE, the plan is to improve safety around seven railroad crossings. Three of them, at Cooper Road, Colonia Road and the now closed off Camino Del Sol, affect traffic going in and out of La Colonia.

Under the plan, Colonia Road would be closed off and the city would open a crossing to Oxnard Boulevard at Camino Del Sol, which now dead ends at Hayes Avenue. Because Camino Del Sol would be four lanes and include turn lanes, the new crossing would be safer and able to handle more traffic, according to city officials. While the decision to close off Colonia Road isn’t final, city officials have said it’s preferable because it would improve safety. In addition, opening Camino Del Sol would require closing either Cooper Road or Colonia Road because of rules that limit the number of railroad crossings per mile.

Public Works Director Ken Ortega said the plan is very preliminary, but the city has discussed closing Colonia and/or Cooper Road for several years.

“Keep in mind that the (California Public Utility Commission) was originally demanding the closures of both Colonia and Cooper Roads in exchange for the approval of the grade crossing at Camino Del Sol,” Ortega said.

BRITE would include additional improvements to the crossing at Rice Avenue and Fifth Street, at Rose Avenue and Fifth Street, and to the crossing at Vineyard Avenue and Saint Marys Drive, near where Vineyard intersects Oxnard Boulevard.

According to traffic accident data, the Rice Avenue and Rose Avenue crossings have been the most dangerous. Last year, a man narrowly escaped death when firefighters pulled him from his damaged truck just before it was slammed by a train on Rice. Another motorist died there in a train accident in 2007. One motorist in 2008 and one motorist in 2005 were killed after being hit by a train while crossing the tracks at Rice.

According to federal accident data obtained by The Star, there does not appear to have been a fatal accident at the railroad crossings at either Cooper or Colonia.

But city officials say that trucks turning into a packing plant at Colonia often back up vehicles that sit on the tracks while the big rigs negotiate the turn. That is a safety hazard they say.

Whether the plan goes through is contingent on funding, but city officials hope they’ll qualify for federal stimulus money. Those funds also would pay for a long planned for “Intelligent Transportation System” in Oxnard, which would allow for upgrading and centralizing control of city traffic lights.

Meanwhile, Garcia isn’t alone in his concern.

The chairman of the Colonia Neighborhood Association, David Garcia, no relation to Eddie Garcia, said a community meeting last week was packed with people opposed to the plan.

“It’s not just about the businesses, but I think there’s a safety concern as well,” Garcia said.

He’s worried about the speed of vehicles traveling down Camino Del Sol, which runs next to Frank Intermediate School. In addition, he is concerned the plan might further cut La Colonia off from the rest of the city.

“Right now people aren’t accepting it,” Garcia said.

Editor's Note 2/23/2010: The original version of this story misidentified Frank Intermediate School and rail crossing where a man was rescue. It was the crossing at Rice Road.